After having tripled its market capitalization, enterprise demand software is offered to both US and UK funds.
a page turns to Cegid, a French nuggets of the software. The company, which celebrates its just 33 years, was bought by a consortium of two Anglo-Saxon funds, the American Silver Lake Partners and the British AltaOne, for 580 million euros.
If the group is unknown to the general public, its president and co-founder is more so. Jean-Michel Aulas is also the patron of Olympique Lyonnais through its holding company ICMI. It is nevertheless committed to remain associated Cegid, Patrick Bertrand, its chief executive, “to lead a new phase of development.” It also will reinvest part of the proceeds of the sale in the capital of the consortium.
Jean-Michel Aulas plays a good operation. He has bought 5.4% of Cegid’s capital Apax in 2010 to € 21.15 per share. In five years, the IT services company has tripled in value. Anglo-Saxon funds are preparing to pay 62.25 euros per share to get hold of the company. The transaction has received approval from Cegid Monday morning supervisory board. It will take place in two stages. The funds will first buy back the 37.6% stake held by Groupama, Groupama Gan and ICMI at 62.25 euros per share. Then they will launch a tender offer at the same price. An additional price of 1.25 euro per share will be paid if more than 95% of capital is made.
Cegid was able to turn the corner “software on demand” (SaaS), which represents nearly a quarter of its 282 million annual turnover. SaaS software are leased by companies that use them, with rates that vary depending on the number of users. This allows software vendors to benefit from recurring revenue much less volatile than those based on the sale of services. A development that partly explains the tripling of the market capitalization of the company in five years, while sales rose only 13% over the same period. Cegid has also multiplied acquisitions to become a European leader in management software.
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